In the sacred hall of Chidambaram Temple, Shiva and Kali were engaged in a dance-off. Every step of Nataraja was outdone by the ethereal dance of Shakti.
Then Shiva performed the Urthava (upside) or Urdhva Tandava, bending his foot to his head, a pose that the goddess could not perform due to feminine coyness.
One of the 108 postures of Tandava, Urdhva Tandava is commemorated through this temple legend in the town of Thanjavur, whose iconography and stories have been inspired by the bronzes of dancing Shiva.
Standing on a lotus pedestal with handles that make it portable, Shiva appears with Jatamukuta adorned by a crescent, circular, and Makara kundala in each ear, jeweled necklaces, two-strand Yajnopavita, tiger hide dhoti and tasseled waistband that sways dynamically to capture the rudeness of Shiva’s dance.
With a sharpness in the right and suppleness in the left half of Shiva’s body, this Panchaloha statute is an embodiment of the duality and balance that Nataraja stands for.
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